Mann's World

I have to hand it to R. Kelly. I finally saw chapters 1-5 of "The Closet" last night, and the damn thing had both me and Danny TRANSFIXED. If you haven't heard about it, it's basically a soap opera set to a slow jam. R. Kelly wakes up in a strange bed and things go downhill from there. I correctly guessed that the cop was going to be the one his wife was sleeping around with, but I'm not sure how her brother is going to come into play. I think it's going to end up with him in jail somehow (that shot into the ceiling is going to come back and haunt him). Somehow, though, it reminds me of the Taster's Choice commercials from a few years back. And without the video, the song wouldn't be half as compelling. After R. Kelly, the less-than-subtle Ying Yang Twins' "Wait" came on, and despite my best efforts it got stuck in my head. I downloaded it this morning, but could only find the nasty version, which, as is often the case, wasn't nearly as entertaining as the clean version. Danny and I spent the holiday weekend at Atlantic Beach, where Appetite for Destruction was playing at a local dive called Playtime. I'd never seen them, but heard from everyone around here that they were a pretty dead-on tribute to Guns 'n' Roses. I've never seen Guns 'n' Roses, and Appetite is the only G'n'R tribute I've ever seen, so I can't compare them to anything else. They sounded and looked pretty accurate as far as I can tell. They are also blessed with a front man who sounds close to Axl Rose, and looks exactly like him (same build, same coloring, same facial features). I have to say, the evening was a real adventure. There was a fight in front of the stage (actually, I don't know if it was one big fight or a couple of little ones), a guy and his girlfriend tried to buy Danny a beer and got mad when he wouldn't accept, and a different guy grabbed me -- as I was walking with Danny -- and told me he loved me. Finally, an insanely drunk woman from Kinston, who had just had breast augmentation surgery and kept flashing her new goods at the band, latched on to Danny's friend. We ended up having to give her a ride home, at which point she told us she was about to pass out, and therefore there would be "no sexin' tonight." It's a good thing she was riding with a reputable crew. Some folks would have seen that as an invitation. Finally, a note about all the cool things happening this weekend at Kings. I missed Bettie Serveert last night (I've never been a huge fan of them), but I plan to go to most of these other shows/events: Wednesday, July 6: Dead Meadow Thursday, July 7: Gong Show! Friday, July 8: Cherry Valence CD-release party with The Dynamite Brothers and Black Taj -- This is definitely the show of the week, with three of the absolute best bands currently active in this area. Go see it! Saturday, July 9: Throwback night with Haulin' Oats, a tribute to you know who. Cool upcoming show alerts: Tuesday, July 26: Drunk Horse Friday, July 29: Widow with THOR